Investigation of Missing Persons

Framingham State University Police DepartmentMcCarthy Center (Access off Church Street)100 State StreetP.O. Box 9101Framingham, MA 01701-9101

Phone: 508-626-4911Fax: 508-626-4899TTY: 508-626-4008

The Framingham State University Police Department complies with Public Law 108-21, Title II, Section 204, which is more commonly known as “Suzanne’s Law”. This law amends Section 3701(a) of the Crime Control Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 5779(a)), so that there is no waiting period before a law enforcement agency initiates an investigation of a missing person under the age of 21 and reports the missing person to the National Crime Information Center of the Department of Justice.

“Suzanne’s law” is named after Suzanne Lyall, a State University of New York at Albany student who has been missing since 1998. Previously, police were only mandated to report missing persons under the age of 18. This law, which was signed by President Bush as part of the national “Amber Alert” bill on April 30, 2003, requires police to initiate prompt investigations into missing young people.

This change in federal law will have little impact on the practices of Framingham State University Police Department because we have always been very aggressive in investigating reported missing persons.